All Things Pass Away
by Peonywinx
Summary: Set after The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. We all know the Pevensies' side of the story after their return to England, but what about the people and country they left behind? The Narnians mourn the loss of their Four Monarchs and the end of their Golden Age as they learn a sad, but unfortunately true, lesson: all good things must come to an end.


_All Things Pass Away_

"Your Majesties, the White Stag has been glimpsed in the Western Woods."

Though no one knew it then, this simple statement by Narnia's Royal Liaison, the Faun Royale – more commonly and affectionately known to the Four Monarchs of Narnia as simply, Mr. Tumnus – was the beginning of the end. Of course, since no one can ever know the future, there was nothing but excitement and anticipation present in the eyes of all the Four.

All of Narnia had heard the rumours, of course. The stories of the magic of the White Stag and what it could do had been passed down from generation to generation for centuries, until their origin could no longer be recalled. The White Stag itself had long since faded into the shadowed mysteries of myth; indeed, it had not been seen since well before the White Witch's reign. However, recently, sightings of had been reported – the eyewitness accounts appeared to have originated from northern Calormen, then travelled to Archenland, before finally reaching Narnia. Tumnus had heard it from the Beavers, who had overheard two squirrels discussing it in the forest on their way to Cair Paravel – and with great glee, the Faun Royale delivered the news.

He was well pleased with the reactions he received from the Four.

High King Peter's eyes sparkled with the challenge they had all intended to undertake from the moment they had heard about the White Stag. On his right, King Edmund, renowned throughout the country for his justice and scholarship, leaned forward eagerly. The Queens were no less affected – Lucy bounced slightly in her throne, radiating excitement, and Susan, Gentle though she was, smiled at the thought of their impending expedition. After all, they weren't going to kill the stag – all they wanted was to catch it. Three wishes would certainly be a pleasant as well as a strategic luxury – with the recent increase of marriage proposals for the younger three of the Four (each more pressuring than the last – they _were_, after all, getting on in years), and the border dispute between Calormen and Archenland, and the unpleasant but undeniable threat of invasion from the rising power of Telmar, the Four Monarchs would definitely not be short of wishes.

"General Oreius," said Peter, turning to the head of the Narnian army, "My brother and my sisters and I will leave on the morn to seek the White Stag. As always, during our absence, we leave Narnia in your capable hands."

The centaur bowed, crossing his right arm over his chest in a gesture of respect. The Four knew they could trust him to govern Narnia wisely during the rare occasions when they all journeyed away, just as the people of Narnia knew that their monarchs would use their wishes from the White Stag (for there wasn't a doubt in any Narnian's mind that their rulers would succeed in their quest to catch the noble creature) to ensure the continuance of the country's well-being, rather than use them entirely on personal matters as lesser men might. Of course, if the Four were to use one wish to grant a personal request, no Narnian would begrudge them that – for no one deserved their desires fulfilled more than their Magnificent High King, their Gentle Queen, their Just King, and their Valiant Queen.

Tumnus himself smiled as the Four launched into an animated discussion about their forthcoming quest. He knew what they planned to do with one of their wishes. Queen Lucy had confided in him that Peter intended to ask for the peaceable resolution of the current tension between Narnia and Telmar. He also suspected that King Edmund aimed to secure a suitable husband for Queen Susan, whose great beauty and poise had attracted the attentions of numerous princes, lords, and knights throughout the land – some of which were downright rude and discourteous, had caused much grief both within and without the kingdom, and were not appropriate suitors at all. While Peter would be quite happy if Susan chose not to marry at all, Edmund realized that they all would have to find spouses one day to continue the royal line, and if a good marriage could be arranged with one of the neighbouring kingdoms to strengthen their bonds, so much the better. Tumnus was aware, too, that Susan was in cohorts with Edmund in this particular venture – he knew for a fact that the Gentle Queen had her eye on the Princess of Magdan, a lovely lady whom the High King had met last year and taken quite a liking to, as a potential wife for her brother.

The point was, the Four would hunt the White Stag, and when they caught it, they would use their wishes for worthwhile matters that would benefit Narnia as well as themselves. Truly, Narnia was blessed to have such rulers.

Little did Tumnus know that in a very short while, Narnia would lose those very same rulers.

* * *

A day passed, then two, then three. By the end of the week the court of Cair Paravel were starting to feel uneasy. Surely their Majesties would have sent word by now, whether they had caught the White Stag or not? General Oreius kept himself calm, and continued his duties as Regent, smoothly deflecting increasingly imperial demands from Telmar to meet with the Kings and Queens. In private, however, he worried with Mr. Tumnus and the Beavers about the sovereigns' continued absence.

At the end of the second week, the sentries on duty reported solemnly to Oreius that the Four's mounts had returned, but the royals themselves were nowhere to be seen. Upon hearing of the horses' reappearance, Oreius all but flew to the royal stables to speak to them, with a sense of urgency he dearly wished was misplaced.

"Where are they?" he asked of King Edmund's mount, Philip – the oldest of the four horses, he had served Edmund longer than the other three's mounts had served them. Philip was a faithful and loyal companion, and Oreius had never wondered why Edmund did not wish to change him.

The noble steed's face was unusually grave as he replied, "Gone, I don't know where."

Oreius' s stomachs – both of them – tightened. "What do you mean, gone?" he demanded.

"We were chasing the White Stag," said Philip, "when I had to stop to rest for a while. King Edmund inquired after my health, but I assured him I was fine. Then Queen Susan, Queen Lucy, and King Peter joined us to ask why we had stopped, when Queen Lucy noticed the lamp post we were standing by. They all seemed to recognise it, for some reason – they all four dismounted and stared at the lamp post as if they had never seen it before. They appeared to be thinking very, very deeply. And then Queen Lucy suddenly must have realized something, because she murmured something I didn't hear and ran off, and the others followed her. We assumed they had managed to pick up the Stag's trail – even though we had no idea how it connected to the lamp post – and we supposed they had gone on foot to hunt it through the underbrush. We waited by the lamp post for them to return, but they never came back. After four days we were forced to accept the truth – the Four are gone, and I don't think they're coming back." Philip's face was sorrowful as he finished.

Oreius, however, was not prepared to accept that. "They can't be _gone_," he insisted. "Where would they go? Their home is in Cair Paravel, and they are Narnia's Kings and Queens. They wouldn't just leave."

"Maybe they didn't have a choice," Tumnus suggested. Oreius turned to see the faun standing by the doorway, clearly listening to his conversation with Philip.

"Are you suggesting they were ambushed by enemies?" The centaur's eyes flashed anger. Who would dare do such a thing?"

"No." Tumnus' face was thoughtful and melancholy at the same time. "When Queen Lucy first arrived here, she told me she had come from the city of War Drobe in the land of Spare Oom, and had somehow managed to find her way to Narnia. We all know now, of course, that the Kings and Queens, as Sons and Daughters of Adam and Eve, came from another world through an enchanted wardrobe. But did you know, Oreius, that it was by that lamp post that I first saw Lucy, just after she had arrived?"

"You're saying they went back to the world they came from?" Aslan, _why_? Narnia needed them – didn't they know that?

Tumnus nodded, his eyes sad. "It's the only explanation for their sudden disappearance."

"But then why did they go in the first place?" Oreius said. "It doesn't make sense."

"I don't think they meant to leave," Shelley, Queen Susan's trusty mare, interjected from her stall. "Queen Susan left her horn in my saddlebag. She loves that horn – Father Christmas gave it to her – so surely she would have taken it with her if she truly intended to go?"

"And Peter's sword Rhindon remains with me," added Norman, a stallion who wasn't as bothered with proper titles as many others were – the perfect companion to help the High King relax once in a while.

"And Queen Lucy never took her dagger and cordial from the palace," spoke up Lucy's horse, Marie.

Oreius hunted in Shelley's saddlebags for Susan's horn – and sure enough, the silver instrument lay safely in one of the bags. Oreius took it out and retrieved Rhindon from Norman's back and showed both the items to Tumnus, who nodded with a sigh.

"They're gone, Oreius," he confirmed dejectedly. The centaur bowed his head, sharing in the faun's grief.

* * *

In the days that followed the news spread through the kingdom faster than wildfire. In a surprisingly short amount of time, all the neighbouring countries had heard as well. The Lone Islands sent a delegation of seven representatives to pay their tribute to their missing Emperors and Empresses. Twin Princes Cor and Corin of Archenland, along with Tarkheena Aravis, came to Cair Paravel in person to offer King Lune's condolences for the loss of the greatest rulers Narnia had known.

"We shall miss them most fiercely," Prince Corin declared solemnly.

Even the Tisroc of Calormen sent his sympathies in a missive, written in typically flowery language and delivered by one of his ambassadors, which read, "While I am very much aware that not all hast been of ease between our two great nations, I nevertheless grieve with you in this most awful of tragedies. To lose but one ruler is calamity enough, but to lose all four monarchs of such high pedigree as High King Peter the Magnificent, Queen Susan the Gentle, King Edmund the Just, and Queen Lucy the Valiant – all of whom have, of course, been the most exalted and wise sovereigns Narnia hath seen in many decades, and hath led Narnia into what can only be described as the greatest prosperity ever seen; a Golden Age, to be sure – must be, of a certainty, extremely woeful and difficult."

Telmar sent no letter and no delegate. Oreius, now Regent Supreme of Narnia (he refused to take on the title of King) was unsurprised, but an uneasy feeling persisted in nagging him; he felt they had not seen the last of the Telmarines.

Still, for a full year after that fateful day, he ruled Narnia to the best of his ability, with help from Tumnus and the Beavers, and the Four's council. In that year, many Narnians from all parts of the country came to Cair Paravel for one reason and one reason only. They had all heard the news and read the official proclamation Oreius had written and distributed about the disappearance of the Four, but they came to court nevertheless because they felt they needed to 'discover the truth for themselves'. To these, Oreius was forced to confirm again and again that the Four were truly gone. Whether they would return, he knew not – but he painfully admitted that he knew in his heart they would not. The White Stag, too, had disappeared, never to be seen again – though many tried to find it and catch it just so they could wish for the return of their beloved monarchs, it was not to be.

Exactly one year after the Four had vanished, to the very date and time – such mockery and malice had never been seen since the White Witch's reign – the Telmarines crossed the Narnian border in great numbers, in a clear act of war. There had been no official declaration, no hints to suggest an attack was likely, no sudden coolness towards Narnia – in short, no communication whatsoever – and the Narnians were little prepared for an attack of such magnitude. Even as Oreius, his heart heavy, assembled the Narnian army – a large force that would regrettably do little against the behemoth Telmar had sent against Cair Paravel – he was finally forced to admit what he had known from the very day he learned of the Four's disappearance.

Narnia's Golden Age had come to an end.

* * *

"_Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but My words shall never pass away." – Matthew 24:35_


End file.
